Session replaced by a CD?

Hi everyone,

Has anyone had a therapy session, where T has put on a 30min professional meditation CD?

I literally only had the chance to speak for about 20mins, then after the meditation she told me not to speak to her about the meditation. It's hard meditating laying down with someone watching your breathing!

I sort of wish I could have done the CD in my own time?

I feel like T has given up on me; my session was 50mins instead of an hour and she doesn't seem to have any understanding of my disorder.

Grrr! Sorry, mini rant! Hope everyone is okay.

UGH. That sounds awfully frustrating! I hope you can talk to T about what you're feeling. I'd imagine it has the potential to be quite productive.

I know I would feel a bit resentful of that as well. I noticed that my T sessions have been about 35 minutes lately - and I'm supposed to get 45 minutes. But, considering he has spent time responding to my emails on occasion without additional compensation, I chalk it up as even. But still...grrr...

I wouldn't be happy with that. Sometimes we do hypnosis, which I find helpful, but I don't always like that it takes up a big chunk of time - time I want to be talking to T - but it is my T talking me through the process, she is still there with me DOING something, not just whacking on a CD. That would bother me.

Did she talk to you about it beforehand? Was it something you agreed to do? Perhaps there is some reason she thought this would be of help to you? Is there a reason she couldn't just lend/give you a copy of the CD to listen to at home?

Do you pay for the full hour? Or does she usually just let you run over time?

That really sucks. I wouldn't have been happy either.

And there is no way in hell that I would lay down in front of my T. You are brave.

I had a T read to me from a self help book for most of the hour once. I kept thinking "I'm paying you $80 to read something from a book I could buy for $20 and read myself??" Seeing her didn't last long...I think I gave it one more session before I quit.

I would be frustrated too. You have a relatively few minutes with T each week and to spend time doing something you can do on your own seems a waste of the time to me.

I would consider it quite odd if the therapist did not discuss such a thing first. I probably would have refused to do it.

Yeah no way would I put up with that. I would flat out say no. Listening to a meditation CD is not the therapy I am paying for. Remember you have rights. You are a client and paying for a service.

Honestly, there are any number of details that you've posted about your sessions that would have sent me running for the hills long ago. Hope you can work it all out.

Thank you! It's really strange as the couch is elevated about 110cms off the floor!

She said she had a plan and I saw she had switched a heating blanket on ready for me (so it was already warm) and had bought in a CD player into the room with the CD in ready to play. I couldn't of exactly of said no considering she had already made the effort

It was a nice CD - one I probably would have done better with if I'd bought it and had it at home.

I just think T has given up on me. She said nothing about me almost passing out last week and is 'awful' with my ED - part of me feels happy that she doesn't understand as it means I fall deeper and know she won't help me stop. It's like she turns a blind eye to it, but I've known her so long, I feel I can't back out.

Thanks for all your replies, have a good day wherever you are.

I can imagine how frustrating that must have been for you. Are you able to tell your T how you feel about being 'given up on'?
Maybe s/he misjudged what you needed/wanted out of that session.
I would not be happy paying for an hours session and only getting 20 mins of it to talk, and then be told i couldn't talk about the meditation.

Are you happy in the other areas of your therapy, up until this?

Firstly, I would be concerned about her not mentioning you passing out last week. She surely should have asked are you any better this week and how you felt about last week?

I can understand though after having such a stressful session last week how she would want to calm you this week and relax. Maybe she has not given up on you but quite the opposite, she is caring for you in a different way, teaching you the value of self care.
but if it is not working for you, you should tell t

Did she not mention your almost passing out at all?

I would consider getting a new T that knows about EDs. I was not able to make any progress with my ED recovery until i started seeing my current T who has 20+ years personal experience of EDs.
You need a T who is able to understand your ED, and also pull you up on it if (and when) necessary.

Maybe next time.

I'm not quite sure I understand why there's a lot of weight on the idea that she didn't bring up almost passing out last week.

My T rarely brings up things that happened the week before. He leaves it up to me to bring it up. I see this as keeping me in the driver's seat in working towards getting my needs met. My T doesn't do "passive" approaches and wants me to be direct in addressing my feelings.

There could be a whole host of reasons why your T didn't bring it up....perhaps not wanting you to feel pressured into addressing it, leaving the option for you to bring it up.

My T knows that I have had issues with SI on occasion. He never brings it up. I'd imagine he doesn't want to deliberately draw attention to it so that I can use it as a way to manipulate him into feeling or acting a certain way. He would certainly allow me to talk about it if I chose to. I just don't feel that it's a primary concern as it doesn't occur very often. And the work that we're doing hopefully would lead to eradicating that kind of behavior.

I wouldn't like to do a cd for session, not at all. But I get that you were being polite in complying with it. I'd be polite like that too. Just try to remember that it is your session, and saying "I really don't want to do that" is important. Your t won't be angry with you.

Thank you for your reply. I suppose I thought as I was there for an additional 20mins last week, ate her food and finally told her about a relapse that she would say something. I even started talking about it when I sat down apologising for the 100th time. My T's approach is very verbal (sonetimes she talks more than me) so it felt different and she usually starts by saying "last session you were ______"

I don't mind; I mucked her around last week I don't blame her not wanting to talk about it with me.

I'd imagine it'd be useful to share your feelings and your perception with her. It appears that you're assuming she's not interested in talking with you about it. You might be right, but it'd be worthwhile to find out for sure so that your perception doesn't lead you down a path that affects you and your relationship with T in a deeper way. Ultimately, it's very telling as we tend to mirror these types of things outside of therapy. It's all good stuff to use as tools in therapy.

I had a question.....why weren't you allowed to talk about the meditation once it was over? Not sure I understand the reasoning behind that?

I have no idea, she told me not to talk about it after the cd had finished, so I tried to keep quiet afterwards full stop (she got funny with my talking through the music at the end). I believe she wanted to to 'Process it'...?

Take care and thanks for your reply x

my T has played videos ,and has read from a book called super brain. i have not had a problem with it .sometimes i just cant talk and she will do this and it does help.

There's no way I could meditate in front of someone for 30 minutes. Did you actually meditate? Or just lay there politely?

A bit of both!

I understand how hard it would be to leave if you've known her a long time. It's often good to try and work things out. There's a lot to be learned from working out difficulties.

I'm confused about why you CAN'T back out. I wonder if you feel obligated to her? or the familiarity is comforting? or maybe there is something more to the relationship beyond the standard "Cl pay for T's time and T gives time with all her skills for Cl." I'm curious why you CAN'T back ou